> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# URL Monitor Configuration

> Configure your URL monitor to ensure your HTTP-based services are always available.

### Basic Setup

Monitor public URLs by specifying the endpoint you want to track.

![URL monitor setup interface showing IP family selection, URL input field, Skip SSL, Follow redirects and Should fail option](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/XonWrJoX4jUKhQZd/images/url-monitor-entry.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=XonWrJoX4jUKhQZd\&q=85\&s=b9fd3a78eb7160745fbcb5b947349e33)

* **Request method:** Always GET
* **URL:** The HTTP(S) URL to monitor (e.g. [https://api.example.com](https://api.example.com))
* **IP family:** Choose between IPv4 (default) or IPv6
* **Follow redirects:** Automatically follow 30x redirects
* **Skip SSL:** Skip SSL certificate validation
* **This request should fail:** Treat HTTP error codes (4xx and 5xx) as passed. Please note that successful responses still pass. Only failed assertions will cause the check to fail

### Assertions

Use assertions to validate the status code of your URL request. When one or more assertions fail, the check run fails, and alerts follow your alert settings:

![URL monitor assertions interface showing status code configuration](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA/images/url-monitor-assertions.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA\&q=85\&s=9b99c1c3e725b4414f8f35345b7bfb09)

For more details, see our documentation on [Assertions](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/detect/assertions.md).

### Response Time Limits

Set performance thresholds to ensure your application meets speed requirements:

![URL monitor response time limits interface showing degraded and failed thresholds](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA/images/url-monitor-response-times.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA\&q=85\&s=b00a1cf911a6e8f67f66736a8a5dda4b)

* **Degraded After**: Time threshold (in milliseconds) after which the check is marked as degraded but not failed. Use for performance warnings without triggering failure alerts

* **Failed After**: Time threshold after which the check fails completely. Use for hard performance limits where slow responses should trigger alerts

Both thresholds can be set to at most 30,000 ms.

### Frequency

Set how often the monitor runs (every 10 seconds to 24 hours). Sub-minute frequencies, parallel scheduling and some retry strategies depend on your [plan](https://www.checklyhq.com/pricing/):

![URL monitor frequency selection interface showing available check intervals](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA/images/url-monitor-frequency.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA\&q=85\&s=54ffe14083fafaa8551014628cef1fd4)

### Scheduling Strategy

Choose when and how your checks run across multiple locations:

![URL monitor scheduling strategy interface showing round robin vs fixed schedule options](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA/images/url-monitor-scheduling.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA\&q=85\&s=2e06635fb13f761e87cc4cf4b92ca110)

* **Round Robin** (Default): Checks run on one of the selected locations each time it is scheduled

* **Parallel**: Checks run from all selected locations simultaneously. Higher consumption but provides immediate global visibility for critical services

Learn more in our documentation on [Scheduling strategies](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/concepts/scheduling.md#scheduling-strategies).

### Locations

Select [public](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/concepts/locations.md#public-locations) or [private](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/platform/private-locations/overview.md) locations to run the monitor from.

![URL monitor locations selection interface showing global monitoring locations](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA/images/url-monitor-locations.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA\&q=85\&s=9c69763933c4aa644f9e41e60713c8f5)

We recommend to chose at least 2-3 locations that best represent your user base for optimal monitoring coverage.

### Retries

Select the retry strategy to determine how failed checks are retried:

![URL monitor retries interface showing retry strategy options](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/XonWrJoX4jUKhQZd/images/url-monitor-retries.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=XonWrJoX4jUKhQZd\&q=85\&s=1551328b48c97c189a8dd0d94f8ec6fb)

| Strategy | Description |
| - | - |
| **None** | No retries - fail immediately on first failure for fastest detection |
| **Single** | Retry once after failure with configurable delay |
| **Fixed** | Retry a specific number of times with consistent intervals between attempts |
| **Linear** | Increase retry delay linearly with each attempt to avoid overwhelming failed services |
| **Exponential** | Grow the retry delay exponentially (base delay to the power of the attempt, e.g. 5s, 25s, 125s) for maximum protection against service overload |

### Alert Settings

Configure notifications for your team:

![URL monitor alert settings interface showing notification configuration options](https://mintcdn.com/checkly-422f444a/9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA/images/url-monitor-alert.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=9iwkS8Mlm4KfOHnA\&q=85\&s=75926a4038e38bf3f532bb421cf6e60c)

#### Notification Scope

Choose how alerts are configured for this monitor:

| Option | Description |
| - | - |
| **Use global account notification settings** | Inherit notification preferences from Global Notification Settings |
| **Use specific notification settings** | Configure alert behavior exclusively for this check |

#### Escalation Rules

Control when alerts are triggered:

**Primary Trigger** (Choose one):

* **When a check has failed X time(s)**: Sends alert after specified consecutive failures
* **When a check is failing for more than Y minutes**: Sends alert if failure duration exceeds threshold

**Additional Condition** (Optional):

* **When a check is failing in Z% of locations**: Only applies to checks running in parallel across multiple locations

#### Reminders

Configure follow-up alerts after initial failure notification:

| Setting | Description |
| - | - |
| **Maximum reminders** | Number of follow-up alerts (0 = no reminders) |
| **Reminder interval** | Time between reminders (only if maximum reminders > 0) |

#### Alert Channels

Define where notifications are sent when checks fail or recover. Additional channels can be configured in global notification settings.

**Alert Types** (per channel):

* ✅ **Success/Recovery**: Check has recovered from failure
* ⚠ **Degraded**: Check is degraded but not failed
* ❌ **Failure**: Check has failed

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Global Alert Settings**: By default, monitors inherit your account's notification preferences. Select "Use specific notification settings" to customize alerts for individual monitors.

### Additional Settings

* **Name:** Give your monitor a clear name to identify it in dashboards and alerts
* **Description:** Add context about what this monitor does and why it matters. Supports markdown, max 500 characters. When a failure occurs, [Rocky AI](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/ai/rocky-ai.md) uses the description to provide more accurate [root cause and user impact analysis](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/resolve/ai-root-cause-analysis/overview.md)
* **Tags:** Use tags to organize monitors across [dashboards](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/communicate/dashboards/overview.md) and [maintenance windows](https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/communicate/maintenance-windows/overview.md)


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